1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a combination inflation and relief valve.
2. Description of the Background Art
Presently, there exist numerous types of valves for inflating articles such as personal floatation devices (life vests, rings and horseshoes), life rafts, buoys and emergency signaling equipment. There also exist many types of relief valves that allow venting of an inflated article once the internal pressure exceeds a preset cracking pressure.
In the garment industry, it has been proposed to increase the thermal insulation properties of a garment by incorporating a network of air channels within the garment such that, when the air channels are inflated, greater insulative properties are attained. Current inflatable garments of this variety utilize an inflation valve mounted to an inflation tube connected in fluid communication with the air channels. The inflation valve/inflation tube is positioned proximate to the shoulder area of the garment such that the wearer of the garment may easily inflate the garment by mouthing the inflation valve and forcing air through the valve/tube into the channels of the garment. A relief valve is also provided, mounted to a deflation tube connected in fluid communication with the air channels. The relief valve is typically preset with a relatively low cracking pressure such that the garment may be deflated by simply rolling and squeezing it until the desired amount of air, or all of the air, is forced out of the internal air chambers of the garment via the relief valve.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an improvement which overcomes the aforementioned inadequacies of the prior art devices and provides an improvement which is a significant contribution to the advancement of the inflation and relief valve art.
Another object of this invention is to provide a combination and relief valve to allow inflation and deflation of an article through a single valve, thereby obviating the need for separate inflation valve/tube and relief valve/tube.
The foregoing has outlined some of the pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be attained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.